"We bear velvet cream. Green and babyish Small leaves seem; each stream Horses' tails that swish, And the chimes remind Us of sweet birds singing, Like the Jangling bells, On rose trees ringing. Man must say farewells To parents now, And to William Tell And to Mrs Cow. Man must say farewells To storks and Bettes, And to roses, 'bells, And statuettes, Forests white and black In spring are blue With forget-me-nots, And to lovers true Still the sweet bird begs And tries to cozen Them: -- Buy angels' eggs Sold by the dozen. -- Gone are clouds like inns On the gardens' brinks, And the mountain djinns,- Ganymede sells drinks; While the days seem grey, And his heart of ice, Grey as chamois, or The edelweiss, And the mountain streams Like cowbells sound- Tirra lirra, drowned In the waiter's dreams Who has gone beyond The forest waves, While his true and fond Ones seek their graves."
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Text Authorship:
- by Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964), "Centaurs and Centauresses", appears in Rustic Elegies, part of "Prelude to a Fairy Tale", first published 1927 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by William Walton (1902 - 1983), "Jodelling song", first performed 1923?6 [ reciter and chamber ensemble ], from Façade [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Dan Eggleston
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 155